Not Afraid of Storms
by RuthieGreen
Summary: What are pivotal moments in Julia's path to being a doctor? I wondered how she got to Bishops in Montreal for medical school & to wanted to outline some of her decisions & the hardships along the way. This 'origins' story takes place between Christmas & New Years 1889. Shout out to JH for story inspiration & JV for the Nanaimo bars! Thanx to Maureen Jennings & MM writers always-rg
1. Chapter 1

_I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship._

\- **Louisa May Alcott**

* * *

**Chapter One**

_** Queen's Medical College for Women, Kingston Ontario, Est. 1883**_

_ Sapientia et Doctrina Stabilitas_

_**7 December, 1889**_

_Dearest Sister Ruby – _

_ I know you mean well, but please cease pleading with me to come home any sooner. You have written me more in the last week than you did all term, and I cannot possibly answer every one of your letters or all your questions. There is no time! I do miss you, and Father, and Mrs. Hastings, however I have a great deal of academic work to catch up with now that there is some peace and quiet for me here on campus. And yes, I will read all your essays and yes, of course I will help you with your scheme for a fundraiser to replace Wells College's main academic building. You did not let a little thing like your college burning down stop you from attending, did you? So, I suppose I can help you with planning some tea or other. We can dust off Mother's wedding china if you like. Mrs. Hastings can make those British Columbia chocolate squares with the graham cracker-coconut crust, custard and ganache. I am sure they will be well-received. _

_ I am very glad you have taken so keenly to college over these last few months. It appears worth the wait to persuade Father to let you go to a women's college, even though it is in New York, just a ferry crossing and train ride away from Toronto – rather than The Mount in Halifax. Perfect for you as well as palatable for him. I also cannot imagine how you would fare in a Catholic school. Father had missed you. Once you are back home, I am sure he will be pleased for your gay company._

_ By what you've said in your recent letters, you have made some interesting friends, and I'd be delighted to meet your newest chum who hails from Mimico. You have an invitation for New York City for the summer. How exciting! And, no, I will not be bringing anyone home for Father to meet. Really, Ruby! I hope you are paying as much attention to your studies as you are to the gentlemen students down the road at Cornell. I have told you many times - I promise you I am not lonely here. I am far to__o__ occupied for that. _

_ I will be home by Christmas – then we can have two, perhaps three whole weeks to catch up in person. We will go to the Rowing Club's New Year's Eve party, skating if the ice is solid enough, anything you like. Do not fret, I will telegraph Father regarding when I plan to be home so a carriage can pick me up at Union Station. _

_ This is the last letter I will be sending along to Wells for you. By the time you get this, you will be done with your examinations and leaving for home. _

_Kiss Father for me._

_ Your devoted sister,_

_ \- Julia_

* * *

Julia looked at her letter to make sure the script was legible, that it betrayed no sign of anxiety or agitation to worry her usually perceptive sister. Finding no fault, she signed it, briefly considered adding a postscript, then shrugged and folded the page, placing it in the envelope and sealing it. She stacked her letter out of the way next to the other one she had even more carefully penned, feeling suddenly doubtful either would have the effect she desired. And why did she promise to take Ruby to her first New Year's ball?

There were more immediate concerns anyways….

Her eyes felt gritty under the lids. She pinched the bridge of her nose, wishing she had a sachet of willow-bark to stem the headache behind those gritty eyes.

_Damn all men and their vile harassment! _She could not wait for this year to be over with.

On the desk in front of her was an empty leather instrument roll next to a small pile of bank notes. Julia looked between them, hoping the contents of one was enough to replace the contents of the other.

She had no idea what she was going to do about the body...

**# # # # # # # # # # **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Kingston Junction, Christmas Eve, 1889**

"_Hullo! Julia! Over here!" _

Isaac Tash pitched his usually mild voice over the clamor of an outbound train. The modest grey limestone Grand Trunk building with its mansard roof and wooden refreshment outbuilding was overrun with passengers and freight, which sent the narrow platform into gridlock and made forward progress nearly impossible. The noise was impressive, calling on him to make a greater effort. Isaac pulled his wool scarf tighter around his neck, then leaned more out of the window, waving his arm to get her attention. "Julia! I saved you a seat!" he shouted, glad when her modest brown traveling bonnet pirouetted and started coming towards him.

He saw her inch her way over to the train door; her slim figure and uncommon stature made her easy to track. The temperature hovered just above freezing and drizzle made everyone hunch in their coats, but his friend Julia did not let a little thing like icy rain bow her head.

"Isaac! I will be right there!" she said when she got to the train door and mounted the steps. Isaac pulled himself back inside the train, shutting the window against the chill. He rearranged the seat across from him to give her a place. When she put her hand luggage away and sat, he made sure to keep a speculative frown off his face: Underneath a veneer of politesse, Julia Ogden looked profoundly unhappy.

"Dear Isaac, thank you for agreeing to travel with me. Here, I brought you your chocolates as a reward. I got the last box at Springer Market." Julia handed over the tissue and bow wrapped parcel with a flourish and an attempt at a smile. Isaac thought her usually blue eyes were dull and bruised from fatigue. She held the smile a little too long.

"Julia, it is good to see you." Isaac kissed her cheek. "And thank you for the chocolates. If we do not have a white Christmas, all the holiday cheer will not be lost as long as I have these for Grandmother; liqueur-filled bon bons are her favourite."

"You are welcome," she said, taking in a breath and then exhaling without saying more.

Julia's wavering smile made him uneasy. Knowing Julia as he did, Isaac assumed when she asked him to travel with her from Kingston to Toronto it was not about needing an escort, but she had been coy about what it was she needed to say in person. He had a sudden flood of worry. "Is everything all right with you….your health..er…at home? It's not your father is it? Is he unwell?" he asked.

Julia appeared startled. "Oh! No, nothing like that. Father is indestructible and I...I take after him."

Isaac was relieved. "Then, Julia, what is affecting your good cheer so much? Surely not the mere thought of spending a holiday with your family has you so glum." The strain between Julia and Dr. Lionel Ogden being well-known to Isaac. "Or has there been some new donnybrook with your father?" He frowned when she shook her head. "Has Ruby cancelled on you again? I swear, that sister of yours! Ever since …."

Julia sighed heavily. "No. Ruby is home from college. By now her presence has soothed Father's irascibility. I am sure she and Mrs. Hastings have over decorated the house. There will be singing at the piano, too much food and some of Ruby's friends to look forward to."

Isaac remembered several Christmastimes at the Ogden's, so he had no trouble imagining how trying Julia was going to find it all. "Ahh…so everything is as usual. Perhaps I can call to escort you to something more to your liking." Isaac offered. "Or rescue you at the New Year's ball at the Rowing Club? I assume you will be chaperoning Ruby this year…" He looked up as businessmen grabbed seats next to him and Julia just as the train started to jerk away from the station. Pleasantries were exchanged then Julia lapsed again into an agitated silence.

_So…if it is not a domestic crisis, _he thought_, it must be a problem with her studies. Something she does not wish to discuss in this public a space._ "How about we try the dining car?" he suggested as soon as the train's movement regularized.

Julia gave him a grateful look. "Or the lounge or smoking car…I could use a drink."

Isaac rose to escort her, politely but firmly bullied a waiter into serving him _and _Julia alcohol, then the two old friends settled into a pair of chairs in a far corner of the train car. While one man glared angrily at her for being where women did not usually belong, several others glanced admiringly, whether for her classical beauty or her boldness. Julia was quite oblivious of the attention. Isaac ran his own eyes over his friend. Unmarried at age twenty-three, Julia still projected youth with her thick braid swinging behind her back and simple, serviceable clothing.

Isaac reminded himself: Julia, in truth, had a skeptical view of matrimony. She had no trouble reproaching anyone who was rude enough to comment on her unmarried state, explaining her own mother did not marry until she was twenty-five. More importantly, she had no time whatsoever for anything other than her single-minded pursuit of a medical degree. If pressed on the situation, Isaac actually expected her to remain as unmarried as he planned to be.

Today, across the table, instead of his usually high-strung and vivacious old friend, Julia sat stiffly, fiddling with her drink. _Oh, this can't be good_, Isaac thought. He searched her face, certain she wished to confide something and equally sure that approaching her awkwardly might backfire. It was unusual in the extreme for Julia to ask for any sort of help, and he did not wish to dissuade her from telling him. Unfortunately, rather than broach the subject, Julia remained tense and distracted, no matter how he offered subtle prompting or small talk.

_This train ride is going to last only so long,_ he told himself. _Perhaps a direct approach…._

"I was so glad for your letter asking us to travel together, Julia, but what is so important that you could not write me about it, and I had to keep myself occupied for an extra fortnight in Montreal?" he asked gently, trying to sound almost off-handed about the inquiry. "Not that I minded, as the city is particularly charming at Christmas,"

Julia gulped her sherry and began abruptly. "You know that Ella Blaylock was refused a medical license in Quebec despite diplomas in medicine and surgery from Queen's."

"Y…yes…I had heard that." Indeed, some of his fellow classmates jeered the very idea of a woman practicing medicine, and positively crowed about any woman who dropped out of a medical program or was barred from licensure. The worst of them did much more. Isaac's heart sank a bit.

"She had to leave Canada for the States, Vermont or New Hampshire I believe, to practice medicine. Moreover… Queen's is, well… having trouble keeping up the women's medical school. Admissions are lagging. There are only two of us women in my year now, since one of us has withdrawn. And I fear that even if…_when…_ I graduate, I will have the same fate as Miss Blaylock." She challenged him with her blue eyes blazing. "There, I said it! No one will deny you a license, Isaac, when you finish your studies at Bishops. You will be allowed to make a living at your chosen profession!"

"I hope to make a living when I am finished. No one gets rich being a doctor, Julia." Most people view an MD as merely having a trade, and a doctor as a necessary evil. He and Julia had discussed this fact before, since plenty of doctors become disillusioned by the work and the remuneration, not to mention the lack of respect, and leave the profession. "What makes you so sure you will be denied? I cannot imagine that would happen here in Ontario. A decade ago, Mrs. Stowe was granted a medical license even though she refused to take the exams. She and her daughter both practice in Toronto. Their women's clinic is thriving. They helped open the Women's Medical School in Toronto…"

"I will remind you it took Mrs. Stowe nine years to get that license, after being a qualified physician in the States for decades. And I don't want to be a quote, female doctor, unquote, Isaac! I want to be a doctor, period! You know this. Have we not argued before on the same subject?"

_Yes, so she had. And she did have a point._ He finished his own drink, gesturing for two refills. "So, I take it you are currently at odds with Queen's Medical College for Women. Something you neglected to share with me before now - at least your unhappiness with them on this scale."

She exhaled but it did not seem to relieve her in the slightest. "I thought it would get better, Isaac. I had hoped the resources for female students would improve."

He saw her cheeks flame, and Isaac did not think it was the alcohol. "They have not," he guessed.

"No." She blushed redder. "I was naive last year. _So_ determined. At one time, Queen's was the most progressive university regarding women, allowing us to monitor chemistry and logic for years, fully integrating women into classes a decade ago. Miss Annie Fowler and Miss Eliza Fitzgerald graduated from Queen's with a baccalaureate five years ago, with Miss Fitzgerald receiving the gold medal for Classics. When I was a child, Mother encouraged me to imagine myself as a student at Queen's after I finished at McGill. I campaigned to go there for medical school since graduating High School."

Isaac was very familiar with this path of Julia's reasoning. Since her mother was favourable towards Queen's, so was Julia. It had been the source of most, if not all, the friction between the eldest daughter and father at the Ogden residence for years now. He nodded to have her continue.

"Of course, I kept hoping Toronto or Bishops would take women, but failing that, I just knew I'd be Queen's bound. It is just that I expected the university to reverse their ridiculous gender segregation in the medical school by now."

Julia was appealing to his sense of fairness. "You are finding fault with the separate but equal scheme, Julia?"

"When I compare Bishops' medical program in Montreal, to mine in Kingston…" She looked like she was going to elaborate, then Isaac saw her shut down. Julia had refused to discuss her hardships with him-or with anyone as far as he knew, but he did not lack imagination.

She sighed. "All we at Queen's Medical College for Women can boast of is a surfeit of proper letterhead and stationery. We women are lucky to be allowed the library. The final straw was when Octavia Ritchie's and my cadaver was stolen!"

"Stolen?" Isaac laughed before stifling himself. This was not an uncommon prank, even though one could be expelled from University for participating in it. "One of the other students hid your cadaver?"

"Yes! It's not funny! It took us three precious weeks to get it back, three weeks to be behind in our work!" Julia was so rigid, Isaac saw the tendons in her wrists and neck, the pulse in her throat.

She was right; he knew that was much more than juvenile mischief. "The dean…"

Julia nearly jumped out if her seat at him. "Did nothing! Oh, the medical school principal and the dean were properly sympathetic, but as each student is responsible for his or her equipment, including the furnished cadaver, we had to finish and complete our examinations on time. No exceptions. Because, as it was pointed out to us, as women we asked for an equivalent education so equivalent academic product was required."

_No wonder Julia was only leaving Kingston at the very last minute to go home for Christmas_.

Isaac knew denying women admission to medical schools or expelling them when male students objected, meant that those same men could judge the education offered by Women's Medical Colleges as suspect, no matter the quality of the schools or the students who attended. Isaac also knew it was patently unfair for someone as brilliant and talented as Julia to have to settle for second best.

"Did you finish?" he asked, then blushed himself when she glared at him. "Sorry. Of course, you did. What are you going to do, Julia? Will you address this with the dean and principal? Put the men students on notice? How…?"

This time she laughed sourly. "Oh, I can handle them, Isaac. If I want to stay there and finish, I _will_, if I have to rob a grave to get my own dissection corpse."

Isaac knew she was kidding…sort of. His dear friend Julia was capable of moving heaven and earth for what she wanted, and Hell be damned with the consequences. It was one of the things he loved the most about her—that honesty. It also frightened him at times. "Then what is the issue? Are you concerned, like Miss Blaylock, your degree will not allow you to practice as a physician after all that time and effort?"

Julia's shoulders relented; her fingers flexed inside her gloves. "Yes, that is the heart of it, or the school will close out from under me."

She eyed Isaac, clearly still deliberating with herself. "And…" he prompted, holding his breath, waiting for the last shoe to drop.

Julia exhaled, giving him a wry smile. "I ignore most of the nonsense from the men at school because I do not wish to appear weak or vulnerable and I certainly do not want to give my father any ammunition should I complain of it. The worst is…my dilemma is…How will I tell my father that I might need to come back to Toronto and enroll in the Women's Medical College there? He will only see it as a vindication that the education of female physicians is a foolish endeavor for the schools which try it and the students who pursue it."

_**# # # # # # # # # # **_

_**Toronto Union Station, Christmas Eve 1889**_

Julia looked wistfully at the throngs of happy people greeting each other in Union Station - none of whom there to meet her. After unburdening herself to Isaac over three sherries, she and he retreated into discussing the latest medical journals and harmless social gossip for the rest of the train ride home from Kingston, appreciating the simple camaraderie of an old friendship. This allowed Julia to mull options regarding Father with another part of her mind. Pulling into the Toronto station, she offered her carriage to him for the ride back to their respective Toronto homes, in part out of kindness, but largely because she wanted to prolong being in his company. She was sad when he declined.

"Alas, I am going on to Grandmother's cottage on the lake for the week." He raised the chocolates box in his hand by way of explanation. "I promise I will come back in town to rescue you at New Year's. And you can count on me for Ruby's fundraising event." Isaac smiled at her, then hesitated. "Julia, whatever you decide to tell your father, I want to let you know you can always talk to me. If there is more to your decision, please feel free to trust me with your thoughts."

Julia shook her head non-committally. _Kind, kind Isaac, _she thought, as she took in his large hooded eyes and oval face_._ She had lied to Ruby, had been lying to all her friends and acquaintances, about just how brutally difficult and lonely her studies at Queen's were proving to be. In Montreal, at McGill for her baccalaureate, she relished the academic and social challenges with her small coterie of the first-to-be-admitted female students. It had been exhilarating to have a like-minded sisterhood of sorts. There were even a few men, such as Isaac, who supported women students on McGill's campus, helping deflect some of the unkindness and crudeness perpetrated by his fellows.

At Queen's there was no such support. Moreover, much to her dismay, there were female undergraduates who did not approve of women studying medicine. For Julia, this was a deeper wound beyond the contempt shown her and her sister classmates by some insufferable, pompous male medical students. She was uncomfortably aware that transferring her studies to the Women's Medical College in Toronto was not really going to make anything better in that regard.

On the train from Kingston to Toronto, she said none of this to Isaac. There was nothing he had the power to do…and while she knew him to be supportive and sympathetic, he was nevertheless male and seldom if ever subjected to the kind of persecution she experienced. It hurt her to withhold from Isaac, to have lied to him about the daily harassment and abuse she endured, yet, in her mind, there was no good alternative.

Keeping it in, keeping her head up, maintaining ridged self-discipline inside a lady-like veneer was becoming second nature. Telling him about the stolen cadaver was hard enough.

Therefore, as she parted from her friend, Julia merely sent him her most brilliant smile. "I have two good alternatives really, when you think of it. You helped me see that. I can stay and finish at Queen's, assuming it remains open. With Octavia Ritchie as my academic partner for scholarly and moral support, the two of us can face down a whole mob of disapproving persons, don't you agree?"

"Indeed," he grinned. "What is the second alternative?"

"I can transfer to school in Toronto and force my father to witness my triumph from a much closer vantage point!" She was glad Isaac laughed with her, imagining the sour face on her father when she brought home female classmates or experiments or dissecting work.

"I will pay to see that. Happy Christmas, Julia." Isaac accepted a peck from her on his cheek. "It sounds to me like you are going to take your fate in your own hands this new year."

"Yes, Isaac, yes I am!"

# # # # # # # # # # # # #


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

* * *

_**p. 62 J. O. Journal 1889 vol. 2**_

_**Friday 27 December**_

_**Well, Father quite surprised me today! He was called for a coroner's inquest a death at a building site and allowed me to accompany him - I suppose in reality I was already in the carriage he commandeered and I merely refused to remove myself. I believe he thought I would embarrass myself or recoil at the scene. I did no such thing! I will admit, here in my journal, it **__**was**__** interesting. Constables deputize several men (and only men!) and call in a physician who is on voluntary rotation, to examine the body in situ. Despite establishing a city morgue three years ago there is no official Toronto city coroner, so local doctors serve. How odd - I never knew Father was one of them. Perhaps he agreed to take it on once Ruby was out of the house at school. After the autopsy, which I suppose Father will conduct, there will be a coroner's inquest to determine cause of death. It seemed rather obvious to me – the man's head was bashed in. Blood and brain matter from the parietal lobe were visible and a rather robust hammer was found nearby the body. I hope I shall get to see the autopsy.**_

_**The newspapers are all talking about the Whitechapel murderer, 'Jack the Ripper', being sighted all over Europe—France, Spain, Russia, Germany, Algeria and now in the American States, in New Jersey of all places! Rather more lurid or ghoulish accounts circulate in the less esteemed broadside papers. Women of all classes are fearful to walk out at night without an escort. If I hear one more lady squeal about the danger she risks by going out at night I might thrash something! I swear these stories circulate like this to keep women defensive. **_

_**Father does not approve of me or Ruby reading these pages, of course, but he can hardly stop us. Ruby has been collecting articles, has a whole scrap book in fact, of which Father is unaware. She says that she is learning to write articles by studying such a sensationalist story. I am unable to dissuade her. Father **__**has**__** opined that it must have been sloppy police work to have allowed that murderer to go uncaught and unpunished. **_

_**Finally! Something we agree upon! In fact, he and I have not had an unpleasant word – three days in a row. Of course, it is also true I have been avoiding him…**_

_**Ruby has done a wonderful job getting announcements and invitations around for her fundraising tea tomorrow afternoon. My sister is an organizational marvel, something she must have learned at Wells because she never demonstrated the slightest affinity for such a skill until now. Mrs. Hastings acquired the recipe for those custard and chocolate treats from her sister Mrs. Jillian Virtue, and for some sort of Italian biscuits from Cook. The house has smelled wonderful. Mrs. Hastings persuaded me to help her and Cook with the baking, and it has been very relaxing to have my hands in flour, butter and sugar rather than human flesh. Baking is logical, about proportions, timing, heat, chemical reactions. I find it soothing. **_

_**Ruby has charmed (or arm-twisted) several sizable donations already. **__**That**__** she has always been capable of. I promised I will help her hostess tomorrow. I appear to have lost some weight so that my best afternoon gown sags a bit. Mrs. Hastings has hired a lady's maid for the next month for me and Ruby (mostly Ruby) who might need to be pressed into service with a needle. **_

_**We agreed I will take Ruby next Tuesday to the Rowing Club New Year's Ball. I do not yet know if Father will attend as well, which will rather spoil Ruby's fun if he does. Isaac will escort us both and I am actually looking forward to going. I will wear the same gown as last year since it laces up and is adjustable. A little frivolity might raise my spirits.**_

_**I have said nothing to Father yet about my medical education and he, typically, has not asked how I am faring. Mrs. Hastings has made some inquiries, and, Ruby, naturally, has peppered me with questions as if I was the subject of an interview for one of her college newspaper articles; all of which I have deflected. Neither would be pleased to hear the truth, and I am half afraid they would not believe me if I told the whole of it. While Father has not been unpleasant and we have managed not to argue - for three whole days now! - I am reluctant to upend that situation by asking his opinion or telling him my plans.**_

* * *

_**# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #**_

_**Saturday, 28 December**_

"_Julia! Really!"_ Ruby hissed while keeping a most serene smile on her lips and an untroubled look on her face for the benefit of her guests. The Ogden home's twin parlours were open to each other and filled with perhaps twenty or twenty-five individuals sipping tea and sampling sweets.

To Julia's eye, Ruby looked so much like their mother, Lucinda Ogden, it was astonishing: a round-womanly body, small stature, refined features, porcelain and pink skin, wide blue eyes…

At this very moment, Ruby's eyes, however, bore hot, angry holes in Julia's direction.

Julia swallowed some guilt. "I am very sorry, Ruby. It could not be helped. Father took longer than he expected for the autopsy. We think that, well… _I_ think that it might have been an accident and not murder, by the angle of the wound and depth of the blow…"

"_Julia. Not here." _ Her sister barely got the warning out of her clenched teeth.

Julia found the shocked look on Ruby's face priceless. "All right! I will go and change right now and be down to help you in under ten minutes. My dress is laid out and Muriel the new lady's maid will help me get into it." She moved towards the stairs, anxious to get away from her sister and to avoid making a scene.

Ruby grabbed her elbow. "You were expected half an hour ago, Julia! What was I supposed to tell them? That you were at the city morgue? No one will accept a cookie plate from your hand if that is the case." Ruby remained angry, yet she snuck in that little bit of sour humour. "You will have to come up with a better explanation by the time you come back down here to the parlour…And," her face wrinkled, "you have something in your hair!"

Julia smiled. "You are the creative writer, Ruby. You come up with what I should say…"

She slipped her sister's grip and sallied straight up the front stairs to her room. In the dressing table mirror she found the piece of 'something' in her hair and removed it. That it might have been a little bone chip from the hammer-victim's skull was not something she wanted to think about. Julia splashed her face and washed her hands with scented soap in the basin. She was tying up her hair when Muriel came in to help her dress. The whole time she was getting ready she was just bursting to tell someone her theory about Mr. Baer's death-by-hammer, yet there was no one to tell! It was beyond frustrating…

…_And Father is as disinterested in my thoughts as the ladies in the parlour downstairs would be appalled by them. _

After a brief debate with herself, she decided now was neither the time nor place for a discussion of fracture patterns in human skulls. But if she got the opportunity, she just might canvas one or two guests about their views on the unsolved Whitechapel case, just to get Ruby's goat…

… As it turned out, the afternoon was not as onerous as Julia predicted. In fact, her mood was very nearly festive as the last guests were leaving. Isaac put in an appearance, Father had absented himself entirely, the guests responded generously, and Ruby shone as a hostess extraordinaire. Julia was just showing the Toronto Globe journalist who was going to write about the fund-raising effort, Miss Elmina Elliott, to the door when the reporter stopped her.

"Miss Ogden, you and your family must be so proud of Miss Ruby." Miss Elliott was in her mid-twenties, with light hair and a sensitive face, primly turned out in suit with a high white collar. "She has taken on a worthy task to elevate the education of all women, in small part by making sure her college is able to live up to its commitment to the female students who attend. She's proven herself an able advocate, don't you agree?"

"Indeed, Miss Elliott," Julia answered. Ruby's gentle wheedling generated nearly two hundred dollars over the course of two hours, with promises of more.

"Miss Ruby's experiences at her school, the hardships of having no lecture hall and the loss of classroom space, and yet being able to persevere, is a credit to her and to your family for instilling those values in her character. I am going to tell Ruby's story in order to help her, but also to put Toronto to shame for not supporting a women's college of our own. Thank you again Miss Ogden. Good afternoon."

Julia's mouth stood open as Miss Elliott swept out of the house.

_Of course, Ruby will get positive attention for what she has done… _

_**# # # # # # # # # # # # **_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

_**Tuesday, 31 December**_

* * *

_** Johns Hopkins, Baltimore Maryland**_

_December 14th_

_Dear Miss Ogden-_

_ I was delighted to receive your letter dated 7 December. Of course, I remember you as a student at McGill. You were there with the other first women to be admitted on an equal footing with the men students. I am told you excelled in chemistry and were interested in comparative pathology and pathogenesis, my two areas of research. I also recall that you asked me for advice about medical training when you were but a freshman, and it seems you have continued to pursue your dream of becoming a physician. Brava! I say. _

_ I dare say there are perhaps two or more thousand women physicians in the United States today alone, many of them in the western part of the country where there is less resistance to female doctors and more need for competent health care. _

_ As to your dilemma regarding your program of study at Queen's. I believe, sadly, your analysis about the fate of Women's Medical Schools and their graduates may be correct, although I cannot predict the outcome for you at Queens or any other place of study._

_ Do I believe men and women should receive the same education? Certainly, I do. My own institution, Johns Hopkins, is in the process of beginning a medical school and yet, it will take a great deal of campaigning for women to be allowed to enter on par with men. There is a philanthropic lady, Miss Mary Elizabeth Garrett, who is doing that very campaign here in Baltimore to that end. _

_ Until that day when men and women routinely study together, however, women who wish to pursue modern medicine will be doing the hard, pioneer work however best they are able. _

_ You say you feel inspired to become a doctor. That it is all you have ever wanted since you were but a child. You tell me you enjoy your classes, the challenge, the research, the learning, and that your grades are excellent. Although you have not said so, I can well imagine some of the barriers, even cruelness, you have faced and are facing in your quest. The idea that your school might close or that your degree will not be sufficient for a license to practice must be painful. But let me assure you, anyone who is that fervent in their desires is sure to achieve their goal. _

_ Just as Miss Garrett is not going to give up on getting women in the new medical school down here, I call on you to continue your studies, at Queen's or any other institution which will offer you the opportunity. __Where__ you do so is perhaps less important tha__t__ what you learn wherever you are. In broader terms, it may be that for you, and other women currently pursuing medical training, being an exemplary physician will put pressure on the powers that be to understand that educating women physicians is good for Society, and that Society must bend its stiff neck under progress._

_ While I cannot give you false hope, I do trust I have given you enough encouragement to persevere, Miss Ogden. _

_ Yours Truly,_

_ W. Osler, MD_

* * *

Julia sat at her dressing table, reading and re-reading the letter from Dr. Osler she received in the morning's post. The letter was limp and wrinkled in her hands, the only thing she hung on to for sanity after the row with her father.

At least Ruby stopped fussing and was at the moment trying to decide which pair of dancing slippers to wear to tonight. Ruby was so excited about her first ever New Year's Eve ball. "Grey or burgundy?" She held up two pairs for Julia to comment upon.

"Burgundy will show less weather damage," Julia said automatically. The weather was turning nasty outside. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she did not realize Ruby had gone back to the old tired subject.

"…I still do not understand why you ask Father's opinion when you merely argue back at him when he offers it." Ruby sat on the bed nearest the dressing table. "He hates it when you and he are at odds and so do I. Besides, I thought you _wanted_ to come back to Toronto for school," her sister said reasonably. "That was the initial direction of your argument…what you began to ask for…"

"He immediately assumed I was giving up and just reaching for an excuse to come back home." Julia's anger began to simmer again. "That is not going to happen!"

"So, even though you wished to come back to Toronto, you managed to talk yourself into staying in school in Kingston after all. Quite forcefully!"

_Yes, I did. Quite forcefully._ Lionel Ogden had thrown up his hands in defeat. Julia patted herself, metaphorically, on the back.

To Ruby she explained: "I decided it was more important to finish what I started. You hear him… I realized very soon after Father and I began talking that if I was back here for medical school, he was going to sabotage me more effectively than any of my fellow students. Moreover, the Toronto hospitals are not particularly welcoming to female students doing internships or residency training and it may be that eventually Mrs. Stowe's school may have to close or merge. A Women's Medical school here or in Kingston is all the same problem, so I gain nothing by coming back. At least in Kingston, at Queen's, I know who I am dealing with and I have an ally in Octavia Ritchie. We will not let each other fail!"

Ruby inclined her head. 'Well, in the new year it seems we both have big plans for success. You will be in Kingston, I will be at Wells for the spring semester and in the summer I will be off to New York City where I have the idea of doing some writing. In fact, I plan to ask Miss Elliott for suggestions on becoming a full-time journalist. She seemed to believe I had some promise."

With that Ruby flounced away, leaving Julia alone with her thoughts. She had indeed given a rousing version of her argument to her father to convince him she was right. In the process, she'd convinced herself. Those awful men were not going to pressure her to leave the school. Dr. Osler suggested that the location was not as important as the student's talent and hard work, so if that was what it takes, and whatever was necessary after she graduated to get her license and work as a doctor, she was going to deliver it!

By the time she was dressed in her best winter gown of royal blue velvet and waiting for Isaac to pick her and Ruby up for supper before the ball, Julia was feeling quite pleased with herself and magnanimous towards the world. She even apologized to her father for having a sharp tongue and she really meant it, not wishing to carry bad feeling from this year, _or decade_, into the next. Making the decision to stay at Queen's cleared much of her anxiety away. She was already mentally preparing herself to take on the dean, the principal, her professors and fellow students by whatever means necessary to show them that women, and Julia Ogden in particular, deserved to be there and deserved respect.

Julia glanced in the downstairs hall mirror as she got her long cloak out. She saw her cheeks glowing a healthy pink. Her eyes looked bright. Apparently, a rousing argument…_ Or winning one_, she smiled smugly at herself…was good for the circulation. She was looking forward to Isaac coming over for an aperitif before supper, then the supper and some dancing. It was going to be a good New Year's after all.

Isaac Tash arrived just as the last post of the day came to the door. He brought the letters into the house. One for Julia was on top.

"Thank you, Isaac." She greeting him with a kiss on his cheek.

"Happy New Year! You look splendid, Julia, if I may say so," he said with a slight bow of his head.

"You may indeed, Isaac. New year, new attitude. I have decided to stay at Queen's come hell or high water." She motioned to the parlour and started opening her letter. "This is from my friend, Octavia Ritchie. She and I will have to plan out how we are going to…"

Julia's blood iced at what she read.

* * *

"_Dear Julia,_

_ Despite our best efforts at supporting each other, studying at Queens has been all too humiliating. In Kingston we still have all our lectures in rented rooms in the drafty west wing of City Hall, not even allowed to use the Queen's campus for our work. God forbid our mere presence might water down the quality of education afforded the men!_

_ Our dissection is under the dome of city hall of all places! Our studies are required to compete with garden club meetings, church bazaars and debutante balls! Outside in the square we are forced to wend our way through hucksters, grocers and a butchering operation. We have been spat on and derided as unnatural. Despite Dr. Kenneth Fenwick's successful campaign to remove women from the Queen's Medical Faculty Program, he and his fellow students seem to find it necessary to sabotage our studies with everything from rude behavior to threats to appropriating our instruments. I have endured catcalls, being spit at and badgered. The last straw was removing our cadavers... "_

* * *

She stared at the page in her hand so long, Isaac poured them both a drink and tried to hand hers to her.

"Julia? Whatever is on that sheet of paper?" he asked.

Julia took a while to get her tongue to work. "Isaac, did you know Bishop's was planning to admit women?"

"I'd heard rumours…the students talk, the faculty grumbles. There's been speculation about it for years, but so far, no action. Why?"

She dropped her hand, the letter gripped in her fist now. Her emotions roared with each other in her chest. How was it possible to feel so numb and jealous at the same time? So happy and so bereft?

… So _cornered_.

With a supreme effort she brought up her gaze, level with Isaac, kept her voice even. "My friend and fellow student Octavia Ritchie is leaving Queen's," Julia told him. "She has been specially invited by the medical faculty to attend at Bishops Medical School starting in January and to join your graduating class."

Isaac was dumfounded. "Marvelous! Women will be admitted…." His face dropped when he caught on. "Oh. Only Miss Ritchie is being admitted, and you will be…"

"Alone…"

**-END- **

A/N: Many notes here.

**First:** Dear Reader: Thanx for coming along for the ride! I hope you like origins stories even if they are not romance between W&J. I am soliciting reviews and feedback for this one because there is almost no backstory for Julia, so I had to make a lot of it up. How did I do?

**Second:** This story is for JH because she asked, and there will be more 'origins story' coming to answer the questions she wants to know. Also, thanx to JV for hostessing the MM tea at Parkwood and my introduction to Nanaimo bars—yum! I know the first published recipe was in the 1950's but who is to say it was not circulating amongst friends before that? Hmmm?

**Third:** I had to make up a lot for this one, so, after a ton of debate, research and massaging the numbers, I made the following assumptions— most of which will show up in future stories:

**Lionel Ogden was born 1829** (so he can be in his 70's in 'Death of Dr Ogden') finished college 1850, completed medical school 1853. He was 34 when he married **Lucinda Ogden**, age 25, in 1863. **Julia was born 1866**. Ruby was born five years later. **Lucinda died 1880** when Julia was 14. I put Julia in the first class to admit women to McGill's along with the actual graduates. It was the only way to fit the rest of it in logically/chronologically.

**Four:** The internet is a wonderful thing. I researched this history of medical schools in the late 1800's, the histories of McGill, Bishops, the Women's Medical School at Queen's, Toronto Women's Medical College, the first female graduates from McGill, the first women to graduate from Bishops (which was Octavia Grace Ritchie), and Dr. Osler.

**MM fudges** with lots of stuff, so the only way Julia could have crossed paths at McGill with Dr. Osler is if she was there in 1884, which is the year he left. So I put her in with the first women and with Dr. Osler at McGill for the Fall Semester.

**The first female graduates from McGill in May 1888 were: Octavia Grace Ritchie, Eliza Cross, Cora Blanch B. Evans, Georgine Hunter, Donalda McFee, Martha Cunningham Murphy, Alice J. Murray, & Jane V. Palmer. **

**Dr. Osler** left McGill in 1884. He was at John's Hopkins by 1889, therefore the reason he writes to Julia from there.

**Miss Mary Elizabeth Garrett**, a Baltimore heiress, financed Johns Hopkins medical school which opened in 1893, by using her checkbook for force them to take women (to the tune of half a million dollars!)

Queen's University in Kingston was forward thinking regarding women, considered progressive in its day.

**The Kingston Women's Medical College, affiliated with Queen's**, was established in 1883 and ran until 1894. It was founded after anatomist Kenneth Fenwick led a group of male students who threatened to transfer to Toronto, where lectures would not be "watered down" by the presence of women The women's college opened so the three women could finish their degrees. It did indeed close the women's medical college because it did not attract enough students (or money.) Even after the demise of the Women's medical college, the Kingston medical school was one of the last in Canada to admit women on an equal footing. The women did take their classes in the Kingston City Hall and dissection was under the dome. l

-**Ella Blaylock** received diplomas in medicine and surgery from Queen's University in 1887 & she was refused a Medical License in Quebec. She moved to the US to practice medicine.

**Octavia Grace Ritchie**, despite being her class valedictorian at McGill, was refused admission to McGill for medical school (co-located in Montreal with McGill) when she graduated. So, she began her studies at Queen's Medical College for Women in Kingston, Ontario. In 1890 she was indeed specially invited by the Bishop's Medical Faculty to be the first woman to attend Bishop's Medical College which was located in Montreal), so she left Queen's to go to Bishop's. In my story, Miss Ritchie goes to Bishop's in Spring 1890, leaving Julia at Queen's alone. In my imagination, Miss Ritchie, accelerates her studies, able to graduate with her MD is May 1891 (the same year I place Isaac Tash graduating). I have Julia going to Bishops in Fall 1890 (and because of problems at Queen's with getting the education she needed) not graduating with her MD intil May 1892.

Interesting note: In 1889 Maude Abbott's application to study medicine at her undergraduate alma mater, McGill University, was rejected, because school policy barred women until 1917

**Elmina Ella Susannah Elliott** was one of the first female Toronto journalists. (I have no idea of her real-life hair colour). Madge Merton, the MM society columnist, was modeled after her (thank you the "Wiki")

**Emily Stowe** waiting 9 years before being granted a medical license in Ontario. She helped start the Women;s Medical College in Toronto. She practiced medicine in Toronto with her daughter.

Thank you "I'dBeDelighted" for a beta read and "Dutch" for the final edit the story needed.

Whew! Was this TMI? Tee hee— 'till next time-rg


End file.
